Happy Birthday, Princess
by play for keeps
Summary: It's Courtney's 17th birthday and everything has to be perfect! But things hilariously go downhill when she and Duncan take a trip to the beach. Set after TDI before Celebrity Manhunt. One-shot for MeAndYouForeverBaby :)


**This is for MeAndYouForeverBaby for her anniversary on FanFic, and for being such a great friend and a fun person to talk to! :)**

**This takes place after Total Drama Island, before Celebrity Manhunt occurs.**

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"Duncan, are you ready yet?" stressed Courtney, standing near the front door and tapping her foot impatiently with folded arms. She bored her eyes into her watch for twentieth time as if she could move the second hand with her mind, but the hand continued its steady, leisurely pace. "We're gonna be late and it's all your fault! I wanted to leave early enough so we could find free parking, and now it's going on 10:30!"

Duncan came down the staircase with sluggish, heavy steps, carrying a red beach bag. "Slow your roll Princess, we'll get there," he said, waving her off.

"Slow my roll?" Courtney repeated, putting her hands on her hips and now arching an eyebrow. "I told you we needed to be up at 5 and leaving at 6. But you couldn't even do that because you didn't go to bed 'til 4! I heard the TV on downstairs."

The punk rolled his eyes and brushed off the accusation. "We're gonna make it, I got everything packed."

"It took you from 9 this morning until now to pack for a day trip?" Courtney groaned, not fathoming how her boyfriend was so unorganized. "That's why I said pack at night." She gestured to her already packed beach bag and chair resting on the wall next to her, but all Duncan did was smirk in response.

"I'm packed aren't I?" He dropped his bag with a bang at the foot of the steps and walked towards the kitchen.

"_Now _what are you doing?" snapped Courtney, still in disbelief that Duncan was stalling them even further. "We need to leave—"

"Forgot the picnic basket. Catch sweetheart!"

Courtney didn't know what Duncan meant by 'catch', but soon found out from the incoming water bottle that was hurled straight for her head. With an 'oof', she caught the bullet bottle before it knocked her out.

"Duncan! What's wrong with you?! I was _so_ not ready for that!"

"I said 'catch'!"

"UGH!" Courtney didn't know what irked her more; Duncan's cocky grin, the fact that she almost got hit with a water bottle, or that they were late for the beach.

Well, it was all these things combined and one another thing:

It was Courtney's 17th birthday, and everything _had_ to be perfect. But the one person she was celebrating with was already messing everything up!

Everyone (Courtney's parents and Bridgette) had bailed on her except for Duncan. Her parents had to go on a business trip for the weekend, so they celebrated with Courtney Thursday night and left Friday morning. And Bridgette was visiting family in Alberta and wouldn't be back until night time, so that left Duncan. She invited him to sleep over Friday night so they could leave early Saturday morning and go to the beach as planned. They would arrive at the beach at 8, go on the boardwalk at 12, have lunch at 1, explore the boardwalk at 1:45, ride bikes at 4, and head back home around 5. It took about 2 hours to get to the beach, and now it was going on 10:30! They wouldn't get to the beach until 12:30, which cut in boardwalk time! They were _way_ behind schedule.

Courtney exhaled deeply and glowered at her boyfriend who wiggled his eyebrows.

"Ready when you are, Princess," he said, giving his signature smirk.

The stressed out prep dumped her water bottle into her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and picked up her chair. "_Finally!"_

Duncan sauntered over to her and opened to door. "After you," he gestured, giving her a cheeky grin. Courtney walked past him with her nose in the air as Duncan locked the door.

With their belongings in the trunk and Duncan in the driver's seat, they pulled out of Courtney's driveway and were headed towards the beach.

It was a typical car ride with Duncan; he wanted to listen to Sum 41 while Courtney wanted to listen to classical music, but Courtney won in the end because she was the passenger. Courtney tried to tell Duncan a faster way to get to their destination but since _he_ was driving, he wanted to do it his way, so Courtney grudgingly let him after arguing about it for 10 minutes. And occasionally they would reminisce about their season on the island, particularly Courtney telling Chef he needed to take a chill pill.

About an hour into the car ride, Courtney noticed something strange. "Um, Duncan," she said tensely, "this isn't the way you usually go to the beach. Unless you know another way, I think we're lost."

"Nah, this is the right way," Duncan replied, keeping his eyes on the road. "Relax, babe."

Courtney didn't want to explode on him right away. It was her birthday after all, and she was already stressed from this morning. She tried to keep the bubbling irritation from rising further in her voice. "I know you wanted to go _your_ way, but we should've went _my_ way instead. We're lost," she said flatly.

Duncan gripped the wheel, the knuckles on his skin more pronounced. "Well _my_ way is right, cuz we're not lost," he said, matching her tense tone. "I know what I'm doing."

"We're surrounded by trees, trees, shrubbery, and more trees." Courtney knew her anger was boiling over, but how could Duncan be that dense to not know they took a wrong turn? "You're seriously telling me you don't think we're lost? I didn't see that gas station—"

"Why don't you look it up on your stupid PDA if you think so?" interrupted Duncan, now angry.

"Fine!" Courtney took out her phone, only to frown. "There's no signal here—great. I'll just check your GPS instead." She opened the glove compartment only to find no GPS. "You didn't pack it?" she cried in disbelief.

"Maybe if you weren't nagging me this morning I would've remembered!"

"_Maybe_, if you packed at night and got up at 5 like I said, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Do you know how freakin' early 5 in the morning is?! Who the heck gets up that early to go on a _day trip_ to the beach?"

"Lots of people!"

"Name one!"

"Bridgette!"

"You used Malibu as a cop out!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yeah you did!"

"She surfs!"

"Not a freakin' 5 in the morning! There's barely a tide!"

He was actually…right. But Courtney didn't want to give him the satisfaction that she was wrong, so she quickly said, "That's not the point. The point is, we're lost and it's ALL—YOUR—FAULT."

"Well sue me! And I know you'd do it too!"

Courtney faced her window and huffed, resting her head on the palm of her hand and remained quiet for the rest of the ride. She didn't want to deal with Duncan now, and she was already irritated that her birthday was drifting from her structured plan. She heard Duncan angrily sigh, and nothing further was said in the car. Duncan even turned off the radio, so now it was only strained silence.

It seemed like a long ride, but in reality it was about 20 minutes after their little argument that Courtney awoke to the sudden jolt of the car.

"Where are—" but she stopped her question short as her eyes blinked a couple of times, unbelieving where they were.

"This—this is—"

"Yep, the Light Theatre!" gloated Duncan. "We're seeing _Wicked!_"

"But—but—" Courtney stammered, trying not to stumble over her next words in a rush of excitement. "All the tickets sold out in a week! I've been trying to get them forever!"

Duncan held up 2 tickets to Courtney's surprise and she squealed. "Got them from this guy I know named Loose-Screw Kazoo. He pierced my eyebrow for me in juvie at a low price. Cool guy."

Courtney's focus on the green and white tickets muted everything after "Got them from this guy." She tightly wrapped her arms around Duncan and hugged him. "I love it! You're the best Duncan!" She kissed him on the cheek, snatched the tickets out his hand, and squealed some more. She'd always wanted to see _Wicked_ but could never get the tickets because jerks on the internet would buy them all and sell them for triple the price. And now she had them! Courtney now forgave Duncan for waking up so late this morning. She knew Duncan _hated_ musicals, so getting the tickets and wanting to watch it with her was a big deal. Even if he slept through it, it was the thought that mattered.

The couple exited the car and walked into the theatre's lobby. "2 tickets to see _Wicked_ at 1:30, please," Courtney beamed, jumping up and down next to the ticket booth.

The man behind the window took the tickets and scanned them. "Excuse me for one moment," he politely said, and slipped through his back door. A few minutes later, two bald, burly, and buff security guards grabbed Duncan and Courtney roughly by their arms.

"Got a problem, baldy?" Duncan sneered, trying to wiggle free.

"What's going on?!" Courtney yelled, attracting people to stare at them as they were escorted out the premises. "Let go of me! You'll be hearing from my lawyers!"

Once outside, the 2 men released their grips on the teens. "Your tickets were forgeries," the left goon grunted, throwing the tickets at Duncan. "You punks think you're that clever?"

"Forgeries?!" gasped Courtney.

"They're not fake!" Duncan countered.

"But they are," the right goon said in a no nonsense tone. "The scanner recognized the tickets as illegitimate. They were copied from the _original_ tickets."

Courtney turned her cold eyes to Duncan's slightly sweaty face. "You _lied _to me? Tell me the truth!"

"All I know is Loose-Screw Kazoo gave them to me a while back," Duncan spat. "He said they were the real deal!"

"Are you really that stupid to trust someone named 'Loose-Screw Kazoo'?" hissed Courtney. "Anyone with that name would _definitely_ be missing a few of their own!"

"You didn't care about his name a while ago!"

"Well now I do, and you should've checked for authenticity!"

"Pfft, like anyone does that!"

The security guards were getting unnerved by the couple's bickering, and the right one finally shouted, "SHUT UP!" The teens immediately stopped but continued to glare at each other. "You guy aren't allowed inside unless you have real tickets. And don't even _try_ to sneak in or you're gonna regret it." With that warning hung in the air, the 2 bald goons left.

Courtney shook her head and put her fingertips to her temples, massaging them gently. "Can we just go to the beach?" she asked, exasperated by what just happened.

"Fine," Duncan rudely said, curtly walking back to the car while Courtney lagged behind in a stupor of disappointment and bitterness.

The car ride was very long, and it wasn't Courtney's imagination this time. The theatre was in the opposite direction of the beach, so it took even longer to get there. Plus, Sum 41 was on repeat in the car, and Courtney didn't want to exert more energy in arguing with Duncan to turn the noise off. And they weren't talking yet again.

All Courtney kept thinking about was how this setback was putting her more behind schedule. It was almost 2:30 and they still hadn't done anything except wake up late to go to the beach, get kicked out a theatre, and go to earlier mentioned beach 4 hours later.

She knew Duncan meant well, but she was still peeved about the whole situation. She was _this_ close to seeing _Wicked_, and now it was snatched from her again. She snuck a peek at his face; his eyes were glued to the road and he was scowling.

"I didn't know they were fake," Duncan abruptly said, his voice harsh.

"I know," Courtney said evenly, directing her gaze to the road too. "I just got my hopes up for nothing. You would've slept through the whole thing anyway."

Duncan let out a sharp laugh. "It would've been freakin' loud in there. I'm quitting if we have to sing next season."

Courtney imagined Duncan singing opera in a tall, curly white Benjamin Franklin wig and started laughing; Duncan joined her too and the tension in the car began to melt away.

Now it was 3:00 and they were at the boardwalk, which was right next to the beach. Duncan parked the car at a meter near the boardwalk and the 2 of them grabbed their things out the trunk.

"Whaddaya want to do first, Princess?" Duncan yawned, stretching his arms.

"Well…" Courtney whipped out her PDA and looked at her schedule, trying not to freak out on how much time they lost. "If we walk on the boardwalk for 30 minutes and be on the beach for another 30, we can still bike ride at 4 like planned and be home in time for me to see Bridgette."

Duncan grabbed Courtney's hand and gave her that smile that made her heart beat faster, erasing all remains of the slightly uncomfortable car ride. "Let's go then!"

Returning his smile, Courtney and Duncan went on the boardwalk and gazed at the shops, ate some water ice, and played some arcade games. As they were about to go to their car and get their beach stuff, something shiny caught Courtney's eye.

"That's a really cute necklace," Courtney said in admiration, looking at the rhinestone teddy bear necklace that was up for display at a dart game.

The woman behind the counter gave 10 blue darts to Courtney. "You can win it if you pop the most balloons in 30 seconds against an opponent."

Just then, a girl about Courtney's age with very high, and VERY penciled-in eyebrows, came to the booth and smirked at Courtney. "I'll challenge you!"

"You're on!" Courtney bet, and the girls took their fighting positions. The woman gave the girl 10 red darts and blew her whistle for the girls to go. It seemed like millions of balloons were popped at once until—

The woman blew the whistle again and Courtney beamed. "Who won?"

After taking a minute to count each popped balloon, the woman pointed at the girl who pumped her fist in the air. "She popped 32 and you popped 30."

"I'll take the teddy bear necklace," the girl said. Courtney's mouth dropped down as the woman gave the girl her prize.

"But—but it's my birthday!"

"No one caaaares," the girl sing-songed, tauntingly swinging the necklace back and forth before walking away.

"Forget Drawn-on-Eyebrows," Duncan sneered. "We still gotta hit the beach!"

Courtney was seething; not only did she lose the necklace, but that girl had the nerve to rub it in her face! Maybe she was related to Heather since both their hair was gone; at least Heather still had eyebrows. Courtney snickered at the image of an eyebrow-less Heather and began to forget the girl.

A couple minutes later after retrieving their beach gear and changing into their swimsuits, Duncan and Courtney headed for the beach. After they both tanned, Duncan went for a swim, so Courtney decided to take pictures of him with her PDA. She stood in the shallow edge of the ocean and breathed in the salt air, feeling at ease.

"Watch out!" a worried voice shouted, but Courtney took too long to move—a volleyball knocked her PDA straight out of her hand and into the ocean.

"NOOOOOO!" she shrieked, hastily picking up her phone, but it was too late—the screen was black.

A young man cautiously picked up his volleyball a couple feet away from Courtney and scrunched his face at the blank PDA. "Sorry 'bout that," he apologized, his tone sincere.

"Is 'sorry' gonna fix my phone?!" Courtney yelled, causing the man to jump. "It's _dead!_"

"Uh…" the young man backed away slowly and gulped at Courtney's volcanic eyes. "I'm…sorry!" He ran away before Courtney could mouth him off some more.

"Of course this would happen," Courtney muttered, stomping her way back to her umbrella. She threw her PDA in her bag and plopped on her blanket, scavenging for the ham and cheese sandwich she packed.

"I should've known—" Courtney chomped between bites, "some idiot would—"

Just then, a seagull swooped down and ripped Courtney's sandwich right out her hands.

"MY SANDWHICH!" She got up and tried to catch the bird, but he was already high in the sky. "Get back here you thieving seagull!"

People were now staring at Courtney, some laughing and other shaking their heads. Courtney stopped her useless running in 5 seconds, knowing it was hopeless.

"That's it," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm going home—_now! _Duncan!" she called, looking for him in the ocean, but he was gone. "Duncan!" she yelled again, but she couldn't find him. Not wasting any time to look for her MIA boyfriend, she started packing up.

Minutes later, Duncan jogged back to their spot but balked at the sight of Courtney stuffing her blanket in her bag. "What are you doing?" he asked, annoyed. "It's not even 4 yet!"

"We're leaving!"

"No we're not! You wanted to come here, and now we're staying here!"

"Some moron dropped my PDA in the ocean," Courtney growled, "and now it's dead. And then a seagull stole my sandwich. We're going home!"

"Good luck driving by yourself, cuz I'm staying," Duncan said, holding his ground.

"You're leaving me on my birthday?!" the spoiled birthday girl yelled, incredulous.

"No, you have that pole up your butt to go with you."

"You're such a—"

_Plop._

A large glop of bird poop fell on Courtney's head.

Duncan tried to stifle his laughter but he let it all out and clutched his sides, laughing like a hyena.

"Just take me home!" Courtney screeched, grabbing all her beach items.

Duncan didn't object this time and grabbed his things, still cracking up as they left the beach.

Courtney went to the boardwalk bathroom to wash her hair out, and then they went to Duncan's car. "You're taking me home, right?" she asked crossly.

"Yeah, yeah, you've had enough torture for today," laughed Duncan, shaking his head as they got in his car.

It was now dusk and Courtney noticed they weren't headed the right way to her house.

"_Duncan…_"

_"Princess…"_

"I know you know how to get back home. What are you doing?"

"We always go home this way."

"No we do _not._" Courtney was getting angrier by the second. "What part of 'I want to go home' don't you understand? I don't want another surprise! _Wicked_ was a total disaster, my PDA's broken, I'm sandwich-less, and I still smell like bird poop! This is the worst birthday EVER!"

All Duncan did was roar in laughter and snort, and this infuriated Courtney even more.

"I have a right to complain! Nothing went as planned!" He was still howling. "Duncan! This isn't funny!"

"You should stop yelling, your freckles are popping out," he teased.

Courtney put a hand over the bridge of her nose and blushed. She didn't want to but she couldn't control it. He always said comments like that to get a rise out of her, but she wasn't going to let him win this time. So she sulked in silence yet again for the umpteenth time in the car and closed her eyes. Maybe she should've stayed at home and had a nice, relaxing, stress-free day and waited for Bridgette to return like she originally thought.

In about half an hour, the car stopped again. Courtney opened her eyes and saw they were at the local park. They were home, but not quite.

"Now what?" Courtney said, half curious, half wary.

"Follow me," Duncan winked, popping the trunk and getting out the picnic basket and his red beach towel. Sighing because she had no other choice, Courtney trudged behind the punk.

Duncan brought them to a quiet area near a water fountain after passing a few people on park benches. He laid out the blanket and opened the basket.

"We're having our own picnic," he grinned, sitting down and displaying the food. "And I know you're starving cuz we barely ate today."

"Oh," was all Courtney could say, her tone much softer than in the car. Duncan wasn't a big romantic, so this surprised Courtney more than anything. The ambiance was great—a light, cool breeze chilled the night air, a few stars were peeking out from the dark sky, the water fountain began to change from shades of vermillion, fuchsia, cerulean, and amber, and most importantly, they were alone.

Duncan offered Courtney his sandwich, which she graciously accepted and the two munched on chips, apples, oranges, cookies, and bottled lemonade. They laughed off the day's events, especially making fun of the bald security guards. Courtney knew the _Wicked _fiasco wasn't Duncan's fault—he tried to plan this day for her, but luck just wasn't on her side.

"Duncan," Courtney said after a few silent seconds of eating, and Duncan perked up. "This is…incredibly sweet. This whole day wasn't what I expected, but…you tried your best and setting this up was really nice. Thank you."

"'Thank you?' That's all I get?" Duncan leaned in closer, the gap between him and Courtney almost nonexistent as he smirked at the blush rising in her face.

"Ok, and an apology," she said, her head dizzy from how close Duncan's lips were from her own, and leaning away from him. She knew full well Duncan was only teasing her and wanted to see her flush again. "I kind of went overboard today—"

Duncan snorted. "_Kind of_ doesn't even cut it—"

"Fine, I did go overboard. Sorry," Courtney sighed. "I was frustrated and just wanted everything to be perfect."

"I got something to fix that." Courtney saw Duncan's hand go in his pocket and then—

"The necklace!" she said amazed, staring at the rhinestone teddy bear. She was speechless for a moment before she continued. "How'd you get it?"

"I conned those fake tickets to Drawn-on-Eyebrows after I was done swimming," Duncan boasted. "I saw her on the beach and bragged how good these were and exchanged them for her necklace. She's probably figured it out and selling them to get eyebrow implants."

"I can't believe it!" Courtney took the necklace and beamed, suddenly elevated. She put it on and held the teddy bear, admiring the stones. The changing lights from the fountain reflected off the bear, turning into different colors. She knew she had the goofiest grin on her face but she didn't care. Duncan did all of this for her. It was this small gesture from him that made this day one hundred times better.

Duncan stood up and pulled Courtney to her feet, his arms encircling her waist and drawing her near him, giving her an affectionate smile. Courtney shivered in anticipation as a soothing fire ignited her body and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She searched his alluring eyes and gave him a sly grin as the tip of their noses touched. It didn't help they were both still in their swimsuits, since being pressed against Duncan's bare chest and smelling the faint traces of his musky cologne were…doing all sorts of things to Courtney internally. Despite all that happened, she couldn't think of a better way to end her birthday.

"Thank y—"

Duncan's mouth hungrily overlapped hers and she closed her eyes, trying not to giggle.

"Happy birthday, Princess."

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**This is also an anniversary for me since I uploaded my first story, _Total Drama Cruise_, a year ago yesterday. I wanted to put this up yesterday to make it more official but I had no time. As much as I love Duncney, this is my first time writing about them, which is weird.**

**I know some of you guys who read _Cruise_ are like 'why are you writing this and not updating your story?!' Uhhh...I had this idea in my head for a month and I JUST now had time to write/upload it all. Once I get something stuck in my head, that's all I focus on and I have to get it out. I have another one shot about Geoff that's halfway written, so once I upload that, I'll continue working on _Cruise. _I fail at multitasking :(**

**Thanks for being patient guys and hoped you liked it! Please review! :)**


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